


Fingernail Moons

by iopeneditbeforechristmas



Series: rosemary month 2016 [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Rosemary Month 2016, day one: lilith in starlight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-28 11:00:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7637506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iopeneditbeforechristmas/pseuds/iopeneditbeforechristmas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Rose fulfills every Homestuck fic trope ever by being a demon and Kanaya is smitten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fingernail Moons

Kanaya meets the demon on a half-moon.

Derse is in the sky tonight, curved fingernail-thin and sharp as a razor blade. Kanaya’s Prospit through and through, more than most given her dreams, but this has always been her favourite time of night; she always feels this strange sense of longing, like there's some fundamental part of her that's missing, but it comes with this sense of excitement Kanaya doesn't quite know how to describe. She knows someday she's going to fill the gap inside her, so she's not worried about it. It's just fun to imagine what it could be.

Because all in all, she's got a pretty good life. In training to be a full-fledged Auxiliatrix, one of the Mother Superior’s favourites so given more free time and more responsibility than most, and all this when there's been scarcely any demon activity for months. Vriska’s been bored out of her mind, but Kanaya enjoys the peace it brings.

Speak of the devil and, like it or not, she shall appear.

“Kanayaaaaaaa,” Vriska whines, “We’re out of milk."

“Really? I thought I bought some earlier today, it should be in the fridge.”

Whichever one of them had thought it was a good idea to room together had been sorely mistaken. Granted, Vriska’s better than Equius or Gamzee, to name a few of Kanaya’s less salubrious friends, but she’s probably the worst after that, and Kanaya goes through at least seventeen scented candles a week trying to get rid of the stress.

“Kanaya!” Vriska yells again. “Come and see!”

Kanaya sighs and puts her book down, automatically hiding it under a cushion. Vriska’s far too used to weird links to raise an eyebrow at vampire porn, but it's a habit Kanaya finds it more useful not to break, just in case.

She reaches the kitchen just in time to inhale the sour-sweet smell of gone-off milk. She frowns, grabbing the bottle from Vriska’s outstretched hand and staring. Her eyes, jade green like her mother’s, widen and meet Vriska’s. She's looking far too excited for Kanaya’s liking.

“Vriska,” she chides, trying to sound casual, “Don't get excited over nothing. I probably just got mixed up and forgot to buy milk today, or something.”

“Or something!” Vriska says ominously. “Look at the date, Kanaya, it goes off in two days! This isn't just you forgetting to buy milk, which you never do anyway!”

“Then there was mix-up in the factory and they used the wrong date, I don't know. You're getting worked up over absolutely nothing.”

“Oh come oooooooon, Fussyfangs, stop worrying!”

The old primary school nickname, the product of one faulty Halloween costume, gets Kanaya’s blood up. “Fine,” she snaps, green rising in her cheeks. “But don't think I won't say I told you so when you end up in court over impeding a threshecutioner investigation again.”

“Fine,” says Vriska, jutting her jaw out and glaring at Kanaya, who stands her ground. Vriska’s on thin ice here, because Terezi and Karkat can't get her off again, but she's far too stubborn to stop chasing after the demons she thinks are destroying New Alternia. It's beyond Kanaya’s paycheck to stop her.

Vriska reaches under the kitchen table for her mother’s cutlass and strides out, slamming the apartment door behind her. Kanaya sighs.

“Finally,” says a smooth voice from behind her. “I thought she'd never leave.”

Kanaya whirls around. Standing in the kitchen like she owns the place is a girl about her own age. Shorter than Kanaya, of course, because almost everyone under purple is shorter than her, but odd. Her skin is pale, creamy, almost like the milk Kanaya is now definitely sure she bought earlier on her way back from the caves, so not a troll. An alien? Definitely an alien. Her hair’s blonde, cut short and held back with a purple hairband, and her eyes are a shade Kanaya’s never seen before even in the highblood fashion magazines she reads in spite of the casual hemophobia. Lavender, that's it. The girl’s dressed in the same colour, a black, purple and gold creation Kanaya’s admiring almost as much as the girl’s perfect figure.  
Unfortunately Kanaya knows deep down that this girl is not an alien.

She also knows that it is a very good thing Vriska didn't listen to her, because a dress that exquisite doesn't deserve any kind of blood on it, red or not.

“Who are you?” Kanaya says, before remembering her manners. Doesn't really matter anyway, considering this is a demon. Demons can't really care about manners, can they?

“Language,” the demon reproaches, and suddenly Kanaya doesn't understand anything. She doesn't need to, apparently, because the demons continue,

“You can call me Rose. I'm here for you.”

Kanaya reaches for her lipstick. Do chainsaws work on demons? Now's as good a time as any to find out.

“There's no need for that, I'm not going to hurt you,” Rose says. “I’ll admit that line was a little hammy, but I never could resist the opportunity to play the pantomime villain.”

“So why are you here?” Kanaya’s not quite ready to bring out the full Auxiliatrix charm, but she's getting there.

“I just wanted to say hi, I guess.”

“Hi.”

Rose laughs. It's a nice sound, a proper laugh, not a tinkly little Christmas tree bell. A good laugh. Kanaya always looks for a good laugh in potential romantic partners.

Oh dear.

“I knew I was right about you,” Rose says. “And please don't take that as an admission of spying. I am not that kind of demon. Though it was hard to resist, in your case.”

Kanaya has to take a long moment to wonder if Rose is flirting with her. It's a very odd feeling, being flirted with by a demon in your kitchen. And all this when Kanaya just wanted a quiet night in, possibly with the inclusion of some literature of vampiric and/or pornographical nature.

It could be worse. Rose is stunningly attractive, for a demon. And even if this isn't Rose’s real form, Kanaya devoted some time in her first year of university to the study of the practical uses of tentacles.  
It's only then that she notices that she can't feel the hole that Derse always brings, and it's that which prompts Kanaya to her decision.

“Wine?” she asks Rose, who grins.

“Don't mind if I do.”

They end up bringing the glasses up to the roof. Kanaya’s only been up there once, and then only because Vriska dared her, but it's different when you've got a demon by your side.  
Kanaya’s a logical person. She knows that flirting with a demon brings serious, actual consequences. She knows too that a gut feeling from Derse is different to Skaia’s clouds, and that she should call Vriska, or Terezi, or Karkat and the thresecutioners to exorcise Rose. She knows she should leave well enough alone.

But sitting in the starlight with Rose, Kanaya feels different. She remembers things; a Seer in an orange sundress, a pair of wands, a blast of white light and the whirr of a chainsaw, her chainsaw. In her mind’s eye Kanaya can see herself, maybe two sweeps younger and glowing, literally, holding up a girl who looks too much like Rose for coincidence and kissing her, and feeling more at home than she ever has.

It's all far too real to be a dream, and when she looks at Rose there's a tear on her face and an expression that mirrors how Kanaya’s feeling. Nostalgia and longing and loneliness, all rolled into one. As Kanaya remembers she thinks of all those years Rose must have spent knowing, waiting, completely alone. So she vaporises her worries and rests her head on Rose’s shoulder, until there's nothing in the world but Kanaya, the starlight, and her very own Lilith.


End file.
